I woke up around seven the next morning, to the sight of Luca's face hovering directly over my head. A faint squeak escaped my mouth as I flinched back in surprise. Luca startled at my reaction, tilting his head in confusion. Once I recovered from the surprise, I couldn't help but have a bit of a laugh.
"Sorry, Luca, you scared me," I explained breathlessly after gaining control of myself. He nodded, his face still portraying a sense of bafflement. I slowly reached out to stroke his ears, and he cautiously leaned into my hand. My appointment to take the D rank test at nine, and I made sure to warn Luca about it before I returned him to his pokeball, so he wouldn't be taken off guard. Then I gathered up some clothes and headed to the bathrooms for a shower, before going to the cafeteria to eat breakfast.
When it was time, I met with Clyde in the Gym stadium. The Gym Leader was already waiting when I arrived, his gray and white hair as wild as ever, and his large stature commanding attention. There were several training dummies set up nearby.
"Alright, let's get this started," he rumbled as I drew even with him. "Go ahead and release your pokemon, Missy." I immediately complied, and Luca soon stood stiffly by my side, waiting for instructions.
"Good, good," Clyde said. He crouched down and abruptly shoved his face up close to Luca's, causing the small pokemon to flinch back, though he didn't otherwise react to the invasion of his personal space. I quickly tamped down on the surge of ire that developed within me in the face of Luca's discomfort, and the small pokemon's eyes flicked towards me briefly for reassurance. I smiled and nodded encouragingly.
"Okay," Clyde finally says after seeing our exchange, standing. "Go ahead and have him use quick attack on one of those dummies." He gestured vaguely in their direction. Luca looked at me, and I nodded, pointing at one of the dummies in the middle.
"Go for that one," I said. Luca immediately went at it with his quick attack, which was noticeably quicker and harder hitting than it had been than the day before, causing the dummy to splinter. I couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly pokemon were able to grow stronger.
"Okay, now pick him up," Clyde said after Luca ran back over to us. I had to once again stifle my irritation at him for making Luca uncomfortable. The small pokemon seemed quite reserved, and I didn't like the way Clyde was forcing our interaction, no matter how necessary it was. Nonetheless, Luca complied easily when I lifted him up and hugged him to my chest like a I would a child. He was heavier than I would have thought.
"One of the signs of an untrained pokemon is that they lash out at being touched by humans," Clyde explained. "Looks like you're good to go, though" he continued, taking a card and a device that looked similar to a pokedex out of his large pockets and swiping the card through a slot in the device after pressing a few buttons. He then handed the card to me.
"This is your official trainer's license. Swipe it at the PC at the Center and you'll be able to get your Growlithe out of stasis. Now get going, I've got another appointment in ten minutes," he said, waving his hand at us in a shooing motion. I was surprised that the test was so short and simple, but I took the hint and left to head back to the Pokemon Center.
It wasn't until we were about halfway there that I realized that Luca was still in my arms with his arms wrapped around my neck and his chin resting on my shoulder. He seemed very comfortable. I figured that it was okay that he was out so long as I remained in the trainer district, so I let him remain in my arms until we got to the Center, where I returned him to his pokeball and proceeded to retrieve my Growlithe. From there I walked to the same training field we'd occupied the day before and released Luca again.
"I'm going to be letting our other teammate out in just a second," I told him. "I'm going to have my staff," I stamped the aforementioned weapon on the ground, "but I would prefer it if you intercepted him before he gets to me if he decides to attack." Luca nodded and moved closer to me as I took Growlithe's pokeball out.
Upon being released, the Growlithe released a vicious snarl as his eyes darted around to take in his new surroundings. Immediately identifying Luca and I as threats, he crouched defensively with his hackles up and his ears flat against his head. After a moment of thought, I decided to take a risk, and slowly placed my staff on the ground. This earned me a sharp glance from Luca and the instant attention of Growlithe. He growled again, muscles tensing, but I just slowly lifted my empty hands into the air, trying to show that I meant no harm.
"Hey, Growlithe," I spoke as calmly as I could manage, considering the situation. "Do you remember me? I'm the trainer that caught you. My name is Dahlia." Growlithe's ears rose a little, twisting toward me, but didn't lose his defensive stance. "We're not going to attack you unless you attack us first," I assured, before gesturing toward Luca. "This is Luca, my first pokemon. You're my second pokemon. I will make sure that you are cared for and do my best to help you grow stronger, but only if you are willing to train with me, Luca, and the pokemon I catch in the future. What do you say?"
Growlithe tilted his head and slowly eased back into a sitting position, though his muscles remained tensed, ready to move in an instant. He then sent a quiet bark in Luca's direction, which Luca replied to with a few yips, shifting his stance slightly. The Growlithe cocked his head in the other direction with a glint of cunning in his eye, observing both of us for a few moments. All of a sudden, Growlithe opened his mouth, and it glowed orange with fire. I was caught off guard by the sudden attack, but in a movement so fast I could barely track it, Luca hit him with a quick attack. The striped orange dog was thrown back several feet, but the Ember he had let loose seconds before the Riolu had intercepted him was still headed in my direction. I threw myself to the right, landing gracelessly on the hard ground. The ground where the fire based attack had landed was charred black and smoldering.
Luca kept a wary eye on the Growlithe as I climbed back to my feet. The Growlithe began to circle around us, much as Luca had done to me that first time, before I'd talked him around. Turning to keep him away from my back, I carefully retrieved my staff, and Luca retreated to my side. Both of us held ready positions, waiting for his next move. With the high amount of tension permeating the air, we were understandably surprised when the Growlithe suddenly bowed with a playful doggy grin, his butt high and his fluffy stub of a tail wagging furiously. The aura of intimidation that had surrounded the puppy pokemon had completely vanished.
Luca and I were both frozen in suspicion, but he only flopped onto his side in an obviously nonthreatening manner. I moved toward him after a moment of deliberation, though not without a tight grip on my staff. Luca attached himself to my side as I stepped forward, and he gave the Growlithe a short growl of warning when we approached. I crouched next to him and slowly placed my right had on the soft fur of his side. He watched me with alert black eyes. Then he let out piteous whine and writhed on his back in a ridiculous manner, drawing a startled laugh from my lips. When I started scratching his belly, his tongue lolled happily, and one of his hind legs twitched occasionally when I hit a good spot. It was a few minutes before I let up, and when I did, he scrambled up and nudged my hand with him cold, wet nose. I smiled happily as I pet his head, scratching behind his ears briefly. I motioned Luca over, who had been standing tensely off to the side, and placed a hand gently against his back.
"Would you like me to give you a name?" I asked the striped pokemon, and he gave a bark and a wag of his tail in affirmation, no hint of hesitation. I gave a thoughtful hum. "I'll list off a few, and you can bark if you like one," I told him. "Stipe, Flare, um, Fang . . . Scout, Sampson, Ari -" There was no reaction until I said the last one. "Ari?" I asked, and was met with a series of happy barks. I laughed. "Ari it is then."
We stayed on the ground, Luca leaning against my side, still keeping a somewhat wary eye on Ari, and Ari laying down with his head in my lap while I stoked his ears. After a few minutes, Luca seemed to relax, before shifting to get my attention. He looked at me, then gestured to where my staff lay discarded on the ground once more.
"I don't know what you're trying to say," I admitted with regret after a few seconds. It took a few more tries before I understood that he was trying to ask why I had abandoned it near the beginning of our encounter with Ari.
"I know that this is all pretty new for all of us," I started, trying to find the words to describe the reason behind my impulsive decision. "But eventually, when we start to gain more experience, I'm going to have to trust you, the both of you, with my life. Completely. We're going to be fighting against other pokemon, and pokemon will always be a stronger than a human. You guys have seen that, right?" I glanced at the two of them. They were both paying close attention to my words with serious countenances, and nodded at my question. "That's not to say I'm not going to try my best to become stronger alongside you, but if I can't trust you to protect me out there, I will die. That's why I put my staff down," I said, looking into Luca's eyes with a smile. "I do trust you, you know. And I was right. Still, I promise that I won't let my guard down like that again. Just because I have you guys to help me out doesn't mean I shouldn't be trying my best as well," I finished my little speech in a lighter tone of voice.
I stood up, dusting the dirt and grass off of my pants, along with the somber mood. "Are you guys okay to train for a while?" After they responded positively, I soon had Ari set to firing embers into the sky, with instructions to try to make his fire as hot as possible and to hold it as long as he could. I then took Luca a few meters away to work on teaching him force palm next to one of the training posts.
"From what I've read, for this attack you need to focus your fighting energy into your paw until it glows with the energy. From there it's just a matter of hitting your target. For now just try to find that energy. Once you do, try directing it to your paw. I'm going to train with Ari for now, but let me know when you manage it." Luca nodded and held his paw up in front of him, a look of concentration on his face. I stroke his head briefly, then leave him to it.
I walked over to Ari and called his training on ember to a stop after watching for a few minutes, and he trotted over to me with his tongue lolling out the side his mouth. From there I tested him on tracking, using odor sleuth. I had him close his eyes while I held up an object for him to scent, then hid it somewhere on the field before I allowed him to open his eyes and search for it by scent. After the first few times, I tried using tactics I'd read about to throw him subtly off the scent until he'd wised up to it.
He did very well for a little over than two hours, having no little amount of fun, when we were interrupted by Luca's success. His paw lit up so brightly that it wasn't necessary for him to tell me that he'd succeeded. I rushed over, Ari close on my heels as the light died down. I was so excited and proud of him that I immediately knelt down next to him and pulled him into a tight hug. When I pulled away he looked slightly abashed at the attention.
"Great job, Luca," I told him with pride in my voice. "Go ahead and do it one more time, and this time hit the training post with it." It took him a few seconds, but soon enough the light formed from his palm and he ran forward. When it hit the post, the force of the hit splintered it, though I noticed that a lot of the light from the attack streamed out to the sides. I asked him to try to focus the energy as much as possible in a forward direction, toward the target. It took him a few more tries, but when he finally succeeded, the training post was completely destroyed.
After that, I decided that we do about another hour of training before calling it quits. I told Ari to use helping hand on Luca for as long and a often as possible, which caused him to glow slightly with the boost in power. Then I had Luca use counter while I attacked him with my staff. He would catch my blows with his arms, and his use of counter would cause my blows to ricochet off with more than twice the force. I fell down a lot in the beginning, in my attempt to avoid being hit with my own staff, but soon got the hang of flowing with the backlash, spinning with the blows. This was an idea I had been playing with since I'd learned their move sets. It would allow for the training of both pokemon simultaneously, while also training myself.
By the time I called a stop to training for the day, I was already starting to feel sore, but I needed to take Luca and Ari hunting outside the walls. I had some money saved up from helping my parents around the farm that I'd cashed and kept with me on the day I'd volunteered, but I didn't want to dip into it unless I absolutely had to. I was hoping to be able to survive on the money I earned on missions and save the rest. Hunting would keep my pokemon fed, help us all gain experience fighting other pokemon, and save money.
I decided to exit the city through the East gate, despite the fact that it was the furthest away and I had to take the train to get there. While I was on the train, I had plenty of space even though it was crowded. The clothing I was wearing had the league emblem emblazoned in various places because it was required for trainers to wear the league emblem to be easily identifiable by civilians. It caused everyone to give me a good amount of berth. Civilians were simultaneously respectful and fearful of trainers, and most of them didn't want to interact with trainers beyond what was absolutely necessary for their safety.
Once I passed through the gate, I released Luca and Ari from their balls, and they went on the prowl. Ari used Odor Sleuth to track down a flock of Pidove. As could be expected, most of the Pidove flew away at the first sign of danger, but Luca and Ari only needed to isolate and take down two of the flock. I wanted to look away from the bloody scene as they were feeding, but forced myself to watch. I would need to get used to it sooner or later during my career as a trainer. I was proud of how well my two pokemon had worked together.
After they had eaten their fill, we stayed out for awhile. I had Ari and Luca practice fighting against the wild pokemon in the area, until we ran into an extremely powerful Liepard that Luca and Ari weren't able to fight off even together. Luca was able to do some damage with his Force Palm due to the type advantage fighting types had against dark types, but the Liepard was strong, and the damage wasn't enough. In the end, I had to tell Ari to use Roar to drive the Liepard away. Roar was a sound based move that projected a loud, fearsome roar at the opposing pokemon, be they alone or in a group. It worked by instilling an instinctual, mind-numbing terror that caused them to flee in fear for their lives. Because the fear instilled my the move was completely irrational, it didn't matter if the enemy pokemon knew, logically, that the pokemon using Roar was weaker than them. I thought the move would prove to be extremely useful for getting out of tight situations with stronger wild pokemon, especially because it could effect multiple opponents, but wouldn't effect anyone that Ari didn't specifically direct it towards.
I felt it was time to head back to the Pokemon Center after that encounter, and the trip back felt much longer than the trip out had. It had been a long, physically exhausting day, and I nearly dozed off a few times on the train. The walk back to the Center from the train stop woke me up a little though.
"Hello! What can I do for you?" Nurse Joy chirped as I approached the desk. I set my two pokeballs down on the counter.
"I just wanted to get my pokemon healed?" I queried, a little unsure of the process. Nurse Joy lit up and grabbed the pokeballs.
"Absolutely. It will take just about three minutes at most," she said as she slotted them into a tray that slid into the machine behind the counter. It looked like it could hold up to ten pokeballs at a time. "You're one of the new trainers, correct? Do you want to schedule their first checkup?"
"I would, thank you. What times are available for an appointment?" I asked. I was glad she had reminded me. The trainer manual had mentioned it, but I had completely forgotten until she asked.
"Just let us know what time works best for you. Most of the appointment slots are left open for new trainers for the month after the Reaping." She smiled kindly.
"Is nine o'clock tomorrow okay?" Nurse Joy nodded.
"Just be sure to schedule their checkup at least a week in advance going forward." With that we subsided into silence while we waited for my pokemon to finish being restored to full health. A belt with a long row of pokeballs was dropped unceremoniously onto the counter, interrupting the quiet moment.
"Eight up next for healing," a woman with short, dark purple hair said. She leaned against the counter. "You must be one of the newbies. The names Amora Ruthven." Her voice was low and a little gravelly.
"I'm Dahlia Moore," I told her in reply. Her eyes flicked toward Nurse Joy's machine, which was still running.
"Two pokemon already, huh? Looks like we've gotten some actual talent this year. I heard that last kid came stumbling out of the mountains at the west gate a few hours ago, so five out of six passed their Trials this year, and all in the first week too." My head jerked up, and I opened my mouth to question her, but I was stopped by the 'ding' that signaled that the machine finished. "Not bad," she continued, seeming oblivious to my shock. Nurse Joy handed my pokeballs back to me. "I guess I'll be seeing you around." As the nurse loaded her pokeballs into the machine, she walked away. "I'll be back in ten minutes," she called over her shoulder to Nurse Joy, and I turned back to face the counter.
"Is that true? That someone else made it back?" The nurse nodded in reply.
"About two hours ago. I didn't realize you hadn't heard yet, or I would have told you. If you want to find out more, you should probably go to the infirmary." I thanked her, then immediately headed in the direction of the infirmary, not wanting to waste time.
"Dahlia!" Linda exclaimed as soon I stepped into the waiting room, halting in the circuit she'd been making around the room. "We were wondering if you were ever going to show up! Where were you?" It looked like all of the other surviving rookie trainers had beat me here. I was just glad that I hadn't shown up awkwardly late while everyone else was already in the recovery room.
"I was out with my pokemon all day. I didn't hear the news until after I got back," I explained. Apparently satisfied with the answer, Linda resumed pacing. There was only one seat left on the single bench, in between Zach and Damon. I had a brief internal debate, before taking it with a sigh. I'd been standing all day, after all. Zach scooted over a little to give me more room, smiling at me in relief. Damon merely rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"She's crazy; she's been doing this the entire time," Damon complained from where he was slumped against the wall. He didn't seem to care one way or the other about my sitting next to him.
"I heard that!" Linda snapped at him as she passed by. He only rolled his eyes again, unfazed by her tone. I noticed that Zach was looking worried though, so I amicably bumped shoulders with him.
He smiled at me, whispering, "Clyde went in ten minutes ago. I think she's getting impatient," before looking self-consciously across the room at Linda, as if fearing that she could somehow hear him. To be fair, it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities. The room was a fairly small one. It was only seconds later that a doctor walked through the door to the recovery room, followed by Clyde. The Gym Leader stepped away from the door and motioned us toward it with a flourish.
"Have at it," he said. That was all the invitation Linda needed. With a squeal of excitement, she lunged across the room and grabbed both boys by the wrist, dragging them along with her. Damon complained the whole time, while Zach blushed and stammered. I followed at a more sedate pace, entering the room several seconds after the others. I recognized it as the same one I had been in when I'd returned from my Trial. I was glad I hadn't had to stay for more than an hour, otherwise I might have been welcomed back in a similar manner. Linda and the boys had come to a complete stop in front of the doorway. I had to edge out from behind them.
Joey was laying on the bed, propped up by pillows. His left arm and leg were both in cast, and he was covered in a multitude of scrapes and bruises. Still, he was smiling broadly at us. While the others stood as if frozen, I took the opportunity to steal the only chair, which was to the right of his bed side. Our parting in the forest had left a bigger impact on me than I ever would have expected, and I was immeasurably relieved to see him back, despite his admittedly rough condition. Everyone, though glad to see each, seemed too overwhelmed to break the silence, but it was getting a little awkward.
"Took you long enough," I said finally, going for a teasing tone of voice. It came out a little choke up though. He laughed, and it seemed to break the ice. The others all streamed forward. Zach hovered uncertainly just behind my left shoulder, and Damon came up at bumped fists with Joey's good hand. Meanwhile, Linda alternately chattered at him and asked questions.
"What kind of pokemon did you get?" Zach finally burst out, asking the question we all wanted to know the answer to. Joey looked down at the pokeball he'd been fingering, before looking up with a fierce grin and a gleam in his dark blue eyes.
"I caught a Skarmory."
Later in the evening found me staring at my Xtranceiver, which I'd caught my self doing fairly often since I passed my Trial. Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and entered the number, knowing that they would all be home at this time. It rang only twice before my mother's face appeared. When she saw me, she covered her mouth with hands, tears covering her eyes in a shiny film.
"Dahlia," she said in a choked gasp. "Why didn't you call sooner? We worried you were dead." I instantly felt guilty, having forgotten that they would have no way of knowing that I was alive unless I told them, and I'd been gone for two weeks.
I'd been nervous, though. Trainers generally didn't have contact with people outside of other trainers after their names are called. Families are often intimidated by their new status and fall out of communication with them. On top of that, they didn't have an easy way to get in contact, and Gym only informed the families of a death after a month had passed without contact from the trainer. My attention was brought back to the call when I heard my mom call for my dad and Beck. Their faces soon appeared beside my mom's.
"Dahlia!" Beck exclaimed, leaning forward in his wheelchair. "You're okay! How long did your Trial take? What pokemon did you catch?"
When Beck had been three years old, he'd been in the small daycare next to the field my parents had been working at the time. In a nearby field was a small Tepig herd, being raised for meat. That day, an oddly colored Tepig evolved into a Pignite and gone on a rampage, right into the field were my family was. Three year old Beck had received an irreparable spinal injury, paralyzing him from the waist down. Thea, my older sister, had just arrived to bring our parents their lunch that day when the attack happened. She'd escaped with minimal injuries, but was left a crippling fear of all pokemon, even more so than rest of the populace.
Beck didn't remember the incident at all, and he'd grown up with a completely different reaction than Thea. He was an incredibly intelligent kid, and had a full scholarship to best school in the city. He was a wiz with technology, and in his spare time, he liked to research pokemon. It was something we'd done together that had been the start of my own interest in pokemon. I'd been at a play date at a friend's house on the day of the attack, and therefore been spared the trauma, but growing up with my baby brother in a wheelchair had filled me with the desire to be strong, enough so that I could protect him and everyone else I cared about. That was my reason for volunteering, though it wasn't something that I would share lightly.
"My trial took about four days," I answered. "I've caught a Riolu and a Growlithe so far." Beck was extremely excited hear that. I chatted back and forth with my family for a while. Beck asked a multitude of questions, with my parents, mostly my mom, chiming in occasionally. My dad didn't say much, but if he'd had a problem, he would have said so. Quiet was just his way. Mom always said I'd inherited that from him. Our conversation only ended once my mom and Beck extracted a promise from me that I would visit tomorrow.
I was lucky to have such an understanding family. While we were all visiting Joey, I'd inferred from what she said that Linda's family, while they hadn't outright said anything, where treating her with considerably less warmth than they used to; even the little brother she'd volunteered to protect. Before the start of the Trials, Zach had confided to me that he was an only child, with parents that had always been more concerned with their work than him. He had tried to call them once before his Trial, and they hadn't answered. Damon's mother had apparently died when he was young, and he'd casually mentioned that he and his 'old man' didn't get along, as if it didn't bother him. Joey was an orphan. He had a little sister, Sarah, that still lived back at the orphanage. He'd stated the intention to send money to her once he was able to take missions.
Linda seemed intent on molding us into her new family. I was inclined to let her, and it looked like the others were, too. No matter how begrudging Damon acted about it. We had all gotten along very well earlier, keeping a good conversation flowing for hours after Joey's revelation, and had been surprised to find myself contributing to it quite a bit. I had always been a bit of a loner, and for the first time in my life, I found myself looking forward to spending more time with people outside of my family. I had found some friends were I least expected, when I had never really had any before.
That night, after I let my pokemon out and got us all ready for bed, I ended up with Luca hugged comfortably to my chest and Ari warming my feet, and I was filled with a warm flush of pleasure. I was already growing to love my pokemon, and they seemed to at least respect me in return. I slowly drifted into a sleep that was filled with pleasant dreams.